August 23, 2011 10:04 pm

Lots of stuff to report today, so let’s get into it.

Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll addressed the recent news about Aaron Curry restructuring his contract, saying that it has had little affect on the team because it happened months ago, before the lockout began in March.

“That’s really old news for us,” Carroll said. “As far as I understand that was a long time ago when that happened. If you’re reacting to that now, understand that that happened months ago. That’s not news that’s pertinent to what’s going on right now to us.

“He’s doing great. He’s had a great camp. Like I said, he’s been at the top of his game in terms of preparation and dealing with everybody and handling stuff, and his mentality is great.”

All three of Seattle’s starting linebackers in Curry, David Hawthorne and Leroy Hill sat out of today’s fully padded practice because of sore knees. Carroll said that Curry and Hill likely will play on Saturday, but Hawthorne will be held out.

Carroll said that K.J. Wright would start if Hawthorne can’t go. However, Matt McCoy worked at middle linebacker with the first unit, with Malcolm Smith at weakside, outside linebacker and Mike Morgan worked at strongside. And Wright continued to work at middle linebacker with the second unit.

* Cornerback Walter Thurmond returned to practice today and was full go after sitting out for three weeks with a left ankle injury. Thurmond looked like he had his speed back in team drills, and could play against Denver this week.

“He was just lightning quick when he came out at the start of camp, and he looked it again today,” Carroll said about Thurmond. “We tried to keep control of his reps and stuff. We want to ease him through this week and see where we are with him, but it’s great to have him back out.”

* Carroll wouldn’t say for certain if quarterback Charlie Whitehurst would get time with the first unit this week against the Broncos.

“It depends on how the game goes,” he said. “I have got to wait and see how it works out. Right now I don’t know that yet. But I’m not worried about that. Charlie is functioning beautifully. He’s doing fine right now, and he’s pushing hard. He’s farther along than I thought he’d be this early. He’s very comfortable with what’s going on, and it just makes us stronger at the QB spot.”

Carroll again emphasized that Tarvaris Jackson remains the starter and there is no quarterback competition at this point.

Carroll said the starters could play as much as a full three quarters depending on the flow of the game.

* Offensive tackle Russell Okung suited up for practice but just went through a couple individual drills at the beginning of practice. Carroll said he will not play this week, but that he’s getting close.

“He’d have to make a pretty good turn for us to say, ‘Let’s go ahead and put him out there the following week,’ in a short week” Carroll said. “But that’s possible though. That’s a possibility, but we’re shooting for the opener.”

* Carroll said John Carlson (shoulder) is doing better and improving, and will try and play in the team’s last preseason game at Oakland.

* Safety Kam Chancellor also sat out practice with a sore foot, his status is uncertain for Saturday.

* Carroll said new linebacker David Vorbora is viewed as player that gives the team more veteran depth at linebacker, and also will get a shot to earn a post on special teams. Vorbora has experience in Seattle’s scheme from his time playing for current Washington defensive coordinator Nick Holt while he served as head coach at Idaho.

“He’s a savvy football player,” Carroll said. “A really good special teams guy with flexibility and experience. I think it’s a real nice addition for us right now.”

* The Seahawks had their annual chip off in anticipation of the Boeing Classic being held in town this week. Senior golfers Jay Don Blake and Mike Goodes competed against Seattle players Charlie Whitehurst and Golden Tate.

And as you would expect, the guys who actually golf for a living came out on top, with Blake putting his offering 2 feet, 4 inches from the pin.

But Whitehurst came in second, clanking the flag stick and land his second shot at 8 feet, 4 inches.

Goodes came in third at 12 feet, 3 inches, and Tate, a left hander who actually plays right handed and holds his club cross handed, brought up the rear at 15 feet, 4 inches.

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About

Gregg Bell joined The News Tribune in July 2014. Bell had been the director of writing for the University of Washington's athletic department for four years. He was the senior national sports writer in Seattle for The Associated Press from 2005-10, covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season and beyond. He's also been The Sacramento Bee's beat writer on the Oakland Athletics and Raiders. The native of Steubenville, Ohio, is a 1993 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and a 2000 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

Feeds

Maybe next time they can go against some NASCAR drivers and Tate can compete in that. Speaking of comPete, it’s “good” to know that everyone has to “comPete” for starting jobs (sarcasm). Maybe a change in philosophy should be made to: “Almost everyone in this program has to compete for jobs, except a few I feel shouldn’t have to.”

That’s great they restructured Curry long before his debacle against the Vikings, it means they knew beforehand that he’s been significantly underperforming. I bet they’re trying to pump up his stock for a trade.

Great news to hear that guys like Clemons, Obo, and especially Thurmond were out there and avtive participants. It will be awesome for Thurmond to get a couple games under his belt before the season starts. Does that push KJ to fifth on depth chart behind tru, Thurmond, browner, and Sherman?

ACIB…a sense of some sort of vindication…I’m actually kinda of happy for you. IMO Curry has been very immature on/off the field,always over pursues and never stays home when supposed too, piss poor in coverage, a unfortunate inability to rush…really nothing that resembles a complete ‘surefire’ 4th overall pick as a frickin’ LB. Our new regime would’ve NEVER had him that high, there’s no doubt in my mind.

Moving ahead (hopefully)…

I’m thus far unimpressed with Tavaris but to be fair, I think our extremely young line is just getting to know one another. Line continuity takes time and having 3 mobile QBs meets our needs given our line.

When I’ve seen him in interviews, I think he’s well spoken, knowledgeable and humble. Admirable qualities regardless of what some of the blowhards here have to say.

In years past, the 3rd game was usually the most accurate measuring stick of what was to come in the regular season, but with the lockout and lack of OTA’s among other things, I’m still not sure that Tavaris will be getting the full benefit of the doubt, as nice as it would be to see him perform well.

Nothing against Charlie. I love his play and think that he’ll get a fair shot in time, but I just don’t think that Pete Carroll is a fool. He’s bright, articulate quick witted on the fly and an absolute master of the media. Seattle reporters are cream puffs compared the national scrutiny of LA.

All in all, we should all view this up coming season in a positive, together like manner. Sure, express your opinions and frustrations, but at the end realize that we truly are in this together.

Whether is TJack or Charlie, I’ll be there rooting like crazy and I’m sure Charlie and Schneider have a little more insight than us posers here.

I am not a fan of T-Jack, but I think he may be our best choice until our O-Line gets it together. T-Jack is a bit more mobile, and perhaps he can survive easier behind the line. Putting Whitehurst and no good alternative for him besides T-Jack and Portis, I would hate to lose him because we could not protect him for a few more weeks till the line gets better.

Based on what PC has done with the QB position I would think he does pretty well with it. He rolled out of there 3 quarterbacks that went pretty damn high in drafts, but once the got into the NFL they bombed, well, at least they did not perform to the level everyone thought they would. That tells me he has a gift of getting an average QB to look pretty damn good by what he surrounds him with.

I hate to sound like a Curry advocate, because I defintely agree he’s been a bust relative to his draft position.

But once again, people are saying “motivated” etc. as his problem – no professional observer has ever noted Curry as being lazy, not working hard, and not studying. They all say the opposite.

Until I see the journalist story that uncovers how he’s sleeping in meetings, showing up late, loafing in practice, getting drunk at night and accosting waitresses, etc. I don’t buy any of that.

Instead, he lacks instincts – the kiss of death for a LB. LB is the most instinctual position on the defense. A LB with poor physical ability can excel (i.e. Lofa Tatupu) but an LB with poor instincts will inevitably be a dud (unless they can rush the passer, which gives them a simple role they can fill.)

If anything, I’ll theorize he’s over-motivated. He’s trying too hard, flying everywhere, trying to prove he’s worthy of the #4 pick, and it’s actually harming him. He needs to slow down his game actually, and know when to turn it on, but unless his instincts or understanding of the defense get a lot better, the game will never slow down for him.

All the junk he does is symbolic of a guy going 110 mph and not thinking things through. He’s trying to succeed purely on effort and emotion. If you’re going do stuff without thinking, then you’d better have good instincts…

The only realistic hope for him in Seattle is that the defensive scheme clicks for him at last. I don’t know how likely it is. If it did, and he became a high-impact player – I wouldn’t bid against myself for his services in 2013.

If some other team gave Curry a monster deal, they’d be making a mistake because it takes him so long to figure out the scheme. If a top career is more important to him, he’d be better off staying in the same system it took him 2+years to master.

I couldn’t agree more with Freedom_X. Although I’ve seen Curry under-perform, I’ve never seen him not put out effort. I think he want’s to live up to the hype of being drafted #4 almost to the point of getting frustrated and making mistakes. He has all the physical and mental attributes to be great, he just needs more time than people would expect from a #4 over-all draft pick to develop.

Anyone see “Eric’s Little Heroes” on komo4 news last night? They covered the 1st game ever for a bunch of peewee football players. Kind of cute but the disturbing part was that Tavaris Jackson went 3/12 for 19 yards and 1 INT against the starting defense.

And none of which help to actually put the ball into a receivers hands…

I’m not buying the argument that Jackson makes a better QB because he’s mobile. I know you all have been watching the pre-season just as much as I have; you can’t be blind to what’s happening. The reason Jackson looks so bad back there is because (a) he has no idea what to do with the ball or what the defense is doing when the ball is snapped (b) he lacks confidence to make a quick decision and (c) his mechanics delivering the football are horrible.

I mean, just watch him when the ball is snapped. He’s a deer in headlights. He doesn’t have a clue.

Charlie is showing a lot of confidence; he’s making good reads and delivering the ball quickly. His ball placement is so much better than last season; his accuracy has improved and he’s putting velocity on his throws. I’ve been really impressed with his placement; he’s putting it right into the receiver’s hands.

Avoiding sacks has as much to do with knowing what the defense is doing, where to go with the football and delivering quickly as it does with the O-line blocking. Dan Marino, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady – they have quick releases, know how to read a defense and know where to go with the ball. Jackson doesn’t, and worse – he never will. He doesn’t have the tools to be a good QB.

I went back at watched the starters play in the first 2 games, mainly because I was wondering what coverage we have been playing, but I ended up watching the offensive play also and although Jackson throwing motion looks awful I didn’t see 1 pass off target. I think he has actually thrown the ball pretty well, he was taken 2 awful sacks but his throwing motion doesn’t seem to be effecting his ball placement at all.

Apparently, it has now been proven that Aaron Curry can never ever become a good football player, that any team with Tavaris Jackson at QB wil be 0-16, that Matt Hasselbeck was Joe Montana and will be winning super bowls when he’s 50 years old, that the Seahawks were a super bowl contender last year and now they’ve been suddenly ruined by bad decisions and incompetent players.

Please. Its only August 24th. The actual starting Seattle Seahawks football team have not even been put on the field with their full schemes and playbook yet.

Opening day, this team is going to ROCK. That’s all I’m thinking for right now.

The smartest thing that PC & JS have done is have 2 former high draft pick QB’s that have yet to reach their potential, pay them backup money, and see what happens. I think they both realize that neither of these guys is the answer, that we are in full rebuild mode, and our future franchise QB is not on the roster yet.
Remember– The sky is not falling!

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